An influential state legislator plans to create an informal commission to discuss ways of improving Colorado’s child protection system.
Rep. Debbie Stafford, vice chairwoman of the House committee overseeing social service programs, said Tuesday that she will bring together police, child-welfare workers and others involved in protecting children for a round of open meetings at the Capitol.
Responding to a three-part series in The Denver Post this week on child abuse fatalities, the Aurora Republican said she wants to discuss possible legislative changes, child protection resources, training programs, and coordination between law enforcement and social service agencies.
She said she also will seek ways to make sure social service agencies adequately document and respond to child abuse complaints.
“We all know our resources are limited. But you still have to do what you can,” Stafford said, on behalf of “our most vulnerable citizens who don’t have the power to talk.”
Stafford said she would offer more details at a news conference Thursday at the Capitol. But basically, “I’m going to put together a very small commission to really look at where our weaknesses are,” she said.
Stafford, a domestic violence counselor, has a long-standing interest in child protection issues. She said she decided to spearhead an immediate discussion after reading The Post’s series, which ran Sunday through Tuesday.
“You lit my fire,” she said of the stories.
The Post reported that county social service agencies in Colorado had warnings of problems in the home in 41 percent of fatal child abuse and neglect cases in the last decade.
The newspaper detailed cases where child protection agencies heard and dismissed numerous abuse complaints before children were killed.
It also reported that a voluntary state fatality review system handles these cases inconsistently, that foster care deaths may go undisclosed and that the state misses some fatal abuse cases entirely.
Stafford said she is particularly concerned about the system’s responsiveness to child abuse calls.
“I think the average citizen may make one report,” she said, and if that seems to get no response, “they may throw their hands up in the air” and give up.
The child protection system should assure that citizens “know how to follow up if they really have concerns,” Stafford said.
Colorado Department of Human Services officials said they view child protection as the responsibility of many – schools, hospitals, police, citizens – not just the county agencies that investigate complaints.
“Child abuse is a community issue,” department director Marva Hammons said in a written statement. “It is always a good process to have legislators, practitioners and other interested parties come together to discuss ways we can improve what we all do and how we do it, with the goal of preventing child abuse fatalities.”
Dan Hopkins, spokesman for Gov. Bill Owens, said the governor also welcomes an open discussion of Colorado’s child protection system.
“Clearly this is an issue that the governor has always been concerned about,” Hopkins said. While Owens is not aware of the particulars of Stafford’s plan, he said, “anything that could be done to shed more light on the situation will be useful.”
